The second wine of Château Pichon-Longueville is soft, perfumed and delicious. It's a wine with plenty of juicy fruit, though at this stage the wood is too dominant. The finish shows a hint of spice. ROGER VOSS

A blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, the 2008 Angelus is deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It bursts from the glass with ready-to-go notes of prunes, baked black cherries, and mulberries, followed by...

Ruby/violet-colored, with a deep, intense nose of ripe fruits, underbrush, flowers, tapenade, and white truffles, the 2008 Château Ausone hits the palate with a deep, concentrated, yet reserved, incredibly elegant style...

A subtle, refined 2009 with complex aromas and flavors of currant, smoke, mineral and lead pencil. Full body with ultra-refined tannins and a long, long finish. An integrated, beautiful Beychevelle. Hard not to drink now...

Tasted with Baptiste Guinaudeau, the 2008 Lafleur is a wine for which I have a lot of time, and as it approaches a decade old, it is beginning to loosen up a little. There is plenty of fruit on the nose—more than I have...

This stood out immediately among the five first growth wines for its floral hit right off the first nose. The epitome of elegance, as I found at the 10-year point, but it is now also starting to deepen and layer, with...

Obviously, it\'s been far too long since I last tasted this gem. The wine is rich, full, sensuous, floral and sexy. The fruit is fresh, sweet, and pure. The tannins are silky and while it is not fully developed if you...

Starting to develop secondary nuances, with air you find flowers, tobacco, red fruits and cigar box notes. This is a classic style of Cheval Blanc, with concentration, energy and freshness that will require another decade...

Like the 2004, cool blue fruit with floral flourishes. But the 2008 has superior mid-palate concentration, revealing yet another underrated vintage that you should purchase, as it came before the 'sexier' 2009 vintage...

Surprisingly evolved and complex already, this wine is even more powerful than the 2010. Reaching 14.5% natural alcohol, the vines were cropped at an astonishingly low 20 hectoliters per hectare. A final blend of 80%...

The medium to deep garnet colored 2008 Cos d'Estournel is blended of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Pow! The nose explodes with notes of baked cherries, preserved plums, fried herbs, beef...

Barrel sample. Spicy initially this wine seems to have too much wood. But in the end the dense fruit tannins come through to dominate giving a bright final character. R.V.

Tasted at a vertical tasting at the château.The 2008 Haut Batailley is service back to normal after the rather lacklustre 2007. It has a well defined, blackberry, minerally nose that has a sense of brightness and...

The 2008 La Mission Haut-Brion has an open, feisty, lively bouquet with blackberry, briary, cedar, black olive and a light seaweed (Japanese nori) aroma. This is wonderful, an intoxicating bouquet. The palate is...

A brilliant effort the 2008 La Mondotte is a candidate for "wine of the vintage." This blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc hit 14% natural alcohol. Yields were 24 hectoliters per hectare. The wine boasts an opaque...

A candidate for the -wine of the vintage- the 2008 should have been purchased before it began to soar in value because of the significance of the number 8 in the Chinese culture (denoting good luck). Representing 40% of...

<strong> # 12 on Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2011</strong>; A dense beautifully structured wine. It shows intense ripe fruit with balanced acidity. It's the fine tannins that give it such...

<strong> # 12 on Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2011</strong>; A dense beautifully structured wine. It shows intense ripe fruit with balanced acidity. It's the fine tannins that give it such...

(95+ points) Another underrated vintage for this estate, the 2008 Léoville Las Cases is a vibrant, youthfully primary wine that's aging at a slower pace than the 2009. Unfurling to reveal aromas of dark berries and...

The second wine of Château Pichon-Longueville is soft, perfumed and delicious. It's a wine with plenty of juicy fruit, though at this stage the wood is too dominant. The finish shows a hint of spice. ROGER VOSS

Starting to really come into its own, this is packed full of savoury blackberry, redcurrant and blueberry fruit with layers of liquorice, black chocolate, grilled cedar and a gentle lick of salinity through the finish...

Unquestionably one of the gems in the vintage is the 2008 Pontet-Canet, which reminds me of the 2005 with its concentrated, deep, powerful style. Beautiful dark fruits, graphite, obvious minerality, and classic Pauillac...

Tasted blind at the Valandraud vertical at the property, the 2008 Valandraud is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc matured in new oak for 24 months. It put in a quite brilliant performance (here paired against...